Revealed: Do I think the director exploited her? Yes

Even though she was not old enough to drive at the time of her nude scene, this foreign born actress always defended it, until her kids saw a chance to make a bunch of money because of it.

Do I think there should have been a nude scene?

No.

Do I think the director exploited her?

Yes.

Do I think this is a huge money grab?

Definitely.

Olivia Hussey

Romeo and Juliet: Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting sue over 1968 film’s ‘sexual abuse’

The stars of the Oscar-winning 1968 film Romeo and Juliet are suing Paramount Pictures for sexual abuse over a nude scene they appeared in.

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey were teenagers when they made the movie.

In a new legal case, the English actors, now in their 70s, claim director Franco Zeffirelli encouraged them to do nude scenes despite previous assurances that they would not have to.

Paramount has not yet publicly responded to the claim.

The two actors are seeking damages of more than $500m (£417m), based on suffering they say they have experienced and the revenue brought in by the film since its release.

They claim Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, initially told them they would wear flesh-coloured underwear in the bedroom scene.

But on the morning of the shoot, they allege the director told them they would wear only body make-up, while assuring them the camera would be positioned to not show nudity.

In the final film, Whiting’s bare buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts were briefly shown during the scene.

Zeffirelli told them they must act in the nude “or the picture would fail” and their careers would be hurt, the pair claim in the lawsuit. The actors “believed they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded”.

Whiting was then aged 16 and is now 72, while Hussey was 15 when the film was shot and is now 71.

The pair are suing Paramount for sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud.

The lawsuit accuses the Hollywood studio of sexually exploiting the two young actors and distributing nude images of adolescent children. – Source